Hot Topics:

Local men tabbed 'good samaritans' by American Red Cross, NM

By Diana Alba Soular, dalba@lcsun-news.com

Posted:
05/09/2013 05:26:58 PM MDT

Click photo to enlarge

Four Deming men were recognized by the New Mexico Red Cross as Good Samaritan Youth, during an awards ceremony Wednesday at the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum in Las Cruces. From left are Joshua Santana, Garrett Means and Isaiah Santana. Not pictured is Alexis Urrea who is currently on deployment with the U.S. Marines.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - An array of everyday heroes from across the region was honored Wednesday morning in Las Cruces during an American Red Cross fundraising event.

Among those receiving awards were a family that rescued a panicked woman who was about to drown in Elephant Butte Lake, firefighters who saved a tree trimmer who was attacked by Africanized bees in Las Cruces last summer, police officers who saved a truck driver who was attempting suicide and young men who alerted neighbors after finding smoke in their apartment.

A 10-year-old search-and-rescue dog, too, was recognized.

About 230 people attended the breakfast fundraiser at the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum, said Rahim Balsara, regional CEO for American Red Cross in New Mexico.

"The stories are so inspiring," he said. "It's a constant reminder we live among people who are capable of doing great things."

The Miller family from Truth or Consequences had spent a day on the lake in late September 2013 and was headed home. That's when they spotted a driver in trouble on a steep boat ramp near Marina del Sur. The truck was in the water and had started sinking. The woman panicked with her hands locked to the steering wheel, the Millers said.

"She was up to her neck in freezing water," said Gidget Miller, daughter of Monica and Billy Jack Miller.

The Millers, who own Rio Grande Guide Service, towed the woman's truck out of the water. While it was one of the family's more recent rescues, it was not the first.

Advertisement

Wednesday was actually the second time Billy Jack Miller was named a Red Cross hero. In 2009, he received an award for jumping in the lake to save a 450-pound man who'd fallen into the lake and was sinking, he said. Being near the lake so often, the family often encounters emergencies.

"The lady we saved this time - she definitely would have drowned," said Billy Jack Miller, a Silver City native.

The Millers received the award for the "Water Safety" category. Honorees in other categories are:

Good Samaritan Youth: Joshua Santana; his brother, Isaiah Santana; their friend, Garrett Means; and their friend Alexis Urrea, who went to great lengths to alert their neighbors about a fire that had started in their apartment early one morning in spring 2012. They also used fire extinguishers to put out the fire, as they waited for firefighters to arrive. The fire was determined to have started because of an electrical wiring problem.

"I just woke up and got people out of the apartment," said Joshua Santana, after the ceremony. "It was not something you'd expect at 4 in the morning."

Isaiah and Garrett graduated Deming High in 2010. Joshua is a 2009 DHS graduate and Alexis graduated from DHS in 2012.

Balsara said Wednesday's ceremony was the fifth annual event in Las Cruces. It serves as a key revenue source for the American Red Cross's activities locally.

"We're not a government agency, so we need to do fundraisers," he said.

The New Mexico State University gospel choir performed at the breakfast, and NMSU agriculture college dean Lowell Catlett gave a keynote address.
"Heroism is the selflessness of someone for something bigger than themselves," he told the audience.

Diana Alba Soular can be reached at (575) 541-5443; follow her on Twitter @AlbaSoular

NEW YORK (AP) — Viewers said farewell to Amy Poehler and the gang of Pawnee, Indiana, bureaucrats on NBC's "Parks and Recreation," in a finale that made more of a dent online than on television. Full Story